My travel plans to New York City had already been set when I ventured over to the NYRR website to see what races they had going on during the time I’d be there. When I initially checked, nothing was set, but based on the 2017 date, I thought that maybe, just maybe, the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half would be happening while I was there. As luck would have it, the race was being held the weekend I arrived! Yes!

Now all I had to do was wait and register. Good thing I didn’t wait too long after registration opened to sign up because the race sold out!

I went into Javelina Jundred — my first 100 mile race — feeling as prepared as I could be. When I started to look at the 10-day forecast, the Phoenix area had a high of 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and wouldn’t that have been nifty if it actually stayed that way? But as each day passed and inched closer to race day, the temperature also increased. When I arrived on Thursday, there was a record setting temperature of 100 degrees that day, but I didn’t let it phase me. I trained for the heat and I had no control over what it is. All I knew was, Saturday was going to be a hot one, but I didn’t know what I was in for. But isn’t that the whole point of me doing 100 miles? To find out.

If I could draw any similarities between my first Chicago Marathon and this one, it would be the weather was awfully similar. Very similar. In fact, practically identical. And that would be the only similarity because this time around, everything else was different.

I love when the night before a big race I have my things ready early, I go to bed early, and I get the best sleep ever only to wake up feeling so energized and refreshed for the big day. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen the night before the Bulldog 50K.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have my Miwok 100K race recap! Aha! You thought I was going to say “the facts of life” didn’t you? Actually I understand there may be a generation gap not aware of the old 80’s tv show “The Facts of Life” but trust me, that first sentence definitely applies to the race I just had.

There were a couple of great reasons for me to run the Leona Divide 50K. One reason was for me to tie up loose ends, and seek redemption at a race which was supposed to be my first ultra marathon when it turned out to be my first DNF. Another reason had something a little bigger on the line and that is, it served as a training run for my next race, the Miwok 100K. Leona was going to give me a snapshot of what I might be up against when I face my longest race distance yet coming up in a few short weeks, but I’ll get to that in another post because this is all about Leona.

Ohhhh the magical world of UltraSignup. If you ever find yourself on this site — beware. You could find yourself gazing deep into it’s Hot List and the Deal pages’ eyes and before you know it, 8 hours of your life have passed by and you didn’t even stop for snacks. If I could describe UltraSignup in one word it’s, addicting, and it could be a fair assumption, a lot of trail runners feel the same way.

Going into the San Diego 50, I had a few main goals in mind: don’t die, don’t get injured, don’t hear any coyotes howling, have fun, and finish…in one piece. I’d like to say I succeeded on ALL of those, but there was one particular goal, I just couldn’t avoid.